Soul Searching
by kashi333
Summary: The scar on Elizabeth's wrist isn't just a normal scar, it's also a symbolic mark that her father attempted to burn off of her when she was young. This mark leads a person to their soul mate. When seeking answers from Reddington she just might find answers she didn't want to know. RedXLizzie. Soul mates fic.
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: This is an idea someone suggested would be interesting to write about. A Red and Lizzie soul mate story. I thought it could be fun to write. I have no idea where this is going or if it's even worth writing more. Is it too weird and farfetched? Perhaps, but it was fun to write anyhow.

Elizabeth rubbed the scar on her wrist with her fingers as she gazed at Reddington from the corner of her eye. She had come for answers about the box she found hidden under the floor boards of her house. She knew Reddington knew why it was there, she was almost a hundred percent still convinced he had it put there himself. After discovering that the hidden gun she found was involved in a crime she could no longer pretend that everything was as it once was. And she did not want to wait for answers; her life kept being turned upside down because of Reddington. She could be at home, with Tom, discussing redecorating the spare room for the child they should have been able to have adopted.

There they sat in silence on a park bench, on what could have been a normally perfect warm spring day. He had yet to ask her why she had requested a meeting with him, although she was sure he knew. He seemed to hold all the answers. Finally tired of the silence she cleared her throat and glanced sideways at him but refusing to turn and look at him.

"You told me I only had two options." She paused to gauge his reaction. But he only nodded and turned his body slightly towards her.

"I won't confront Tom, and I won't turn him in. But you, you know the answers to all my questions. I don't care whether the answers you have are complicated for you to explain or not. I want to know why that box was there, what you know about my husband and the truth about why you chose me. You said it was because of my father." She finished speaking and waited. She doubted he would agree right away, but at this point she was too determined to back down. She was not very far from pulling her gun and holding him at gun point until he spilled his secrets. It seemed as if he didn't even hear her, the way he just stared out at the park in silence. Her patience was wearing thin when he finally spoke.

"The answers _are_ complicated Lizzie, you wouldn't understand if I told you now, you need to figure things out for yourself. I can only help you."

His answer pissed her off and she finally turned swiftly, fully facing him as her voice grew louder in anger. "Help me?! What help have you been? Giving me bread crumbs and taunting me?"

She thought she saw a flicker of sadness in his eyes before it was gone. He was so hard to read, hard to predict, and yet he could read her so perfectly and it infuriated her. She continued to stroke the burn on her wrist, not even realizing she was doing so until she saw his gaze drift down to her hands, which made her freeze her actions. Suddenly he was reaching out and grabbing her by the wrist.

Her eyes went wide as she tried to pull away. "What are you doing?" She demanded, continuing to try to fight back. Yet she received no answer and could not get free from his grasp as he pried open her tightly closed fingers and gazed at her scar. This made her temporarily hesitate in her struggle to break free.

"Why are you so fascinated by my scar?" She blurted out the question without thinking and it distracted him long enough for him to meet her gaze. She recalled him asking to see it during one of the first times they had met. It had been an uncomfortable request, even though she had showed him she had made it quick and made a mental note not indulge him again. The way he had looked at it that day, the curiosity he held for it had unnerved her and she tried not to remember it.

"Everything about you fascinates me Lizzie, you know that." He smirked at her and she knew that wasn't the real answer. He always avoided a real answer; instead he would give a cryptic response or a flirty remark. But before she could even gather her thoughts or attempt to start pulling her arm free again he brought his other hand to the one he held captive and gradually began to stroke the scar from end to end and she gasped.

A feeling was suddenly radiating from her wrist and up her arm as he slowly stroked her scar, his eyes never leaving hers. The feeling felt like it was trying to consume her, setting something deep inside of her a blaze. The mark on her wrist seemed to burn where he touched it, a burn that ached with each pass he made with his fingers over it. She felt paralyzed. This was not supposed to happen. Did he know what he was doing? Did he realize what the mark meant to her and what it symbolized? He smiled at her, as if guessing her dilemma and he stopped stroking her wrist only to bring her hand to his mouth. His breath was hot on her skin as he brushed his lips over the mark, sending a searing jolt of pleasure up her arm and a shiver down her spine.

She was instantly shocked back to her senses and jerked her arm free from him and stood up from the park bench. She clutched her wrist to her chest as she backed slowly away from him, her eyes never leaving him as they searched for answers on his face. But like any other time he revealed nothing as he also stood. "Lizzie, perhaps I can give you some answers. We need to talk Lizzie. And it is long overdue."

He held out his hand to her, clearly the intent was for her to take it. She looked from his hand to his face. She knew if she took his hand there was no going back, if she did this it would set in motion more changes in her life and she had yet to recover from the previous ones. She was too overwhelmed with this new information, this new feeling and the answers her gut told yet she refused to believe them. She did the only thing she knew she could handle: She turned and ran.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: I greatly appreciate all the wonderful reviews! You guys are all too kind. I am currently updating my other stories as well as writing some new ones so please have patience with me :)

Also any and all ideas or suggestions for this story or any of the others, or even a prompt for a new story are all very welcome! However I only pair RedxLizzie, sorry but I think I would have trouble pairing Liz with anyone else.

I found this chapter hard to write. I wanted to give some answers and background but not just throw it out there and rush things. So let me know how I did and if it's going too fast.

* * *

Elizabeth sat at her dining room table, her hand wrapped around a glass of alcohol that was still untouched. She didn't know how long she had sat there, staring into nothingness, in some sort of daze. Tom had left for work hours ago and seeing as she hadn't been called in to race after another mad criminal she had thought today would be a decent day to finally face what she had pretended didn't happen.

It had been four days since the incident in the park with Reddington and he had neither called nor tried to contact her. Part of her wondered if he was giving her space after their encounter but the part of her that thought him an unlawful monster, just as bad as the ones they chased after, told her he was doing it on purpose to make her squirm.

She sat her drink on the table and sighed, running her hands over her eyes and face, only stopping when she felt the rough brush of her scar brushing her cheek. Moving her hands from her face she laid them on the table, the inside of her wrists facing up towards her. She gazed down at the mark, squinting and tilting her head to the side as if by some miracle analyzing it would tell her all the answers.

The truth was she was terrified. Terrified of what she felt four days ago, terrified of what it meant, and certainly terrified of Raymond "Red" Reddington. As a girl she lived an average life, had both parents, living in a lovely house, even though her father would be gone days at a time out on business. She now knew what "business" he was actually doing, that of a criminal nature. That night, the night he left, he was in a wild rage. She had woken up to the yelling and shouting of her parents fighting. She heard her name being shouted in their argument and had crept down to the living room to see what was happening. Her parents had disagreements like any other couple but she had never heard fighting of this degree in their household, ever.

Lost in reminiscing she had begun to stroke her scar again without even noticing.

When her father noticed she was out of bed it seemed to only full his anger. Her normally quiet and controlled father grabbed her by the wrist in a crazy frenzy, dragging her to the fire-place. She could still hear her mother's screaming and feel the searing pain as the fire stoker was placed on her wrist. The spot her father picked was over her birth mark. Why he had picked that spot she hadn't known.

Slamming her hands on the table and coming back to reality Elizabeth stood and grabbed the full glass, moving towards the kitchen she went to the sink, dumping the alcohol contents in the sink in frustration. She didn't remember anything after that. She must have passed out from the pain because the next thing she knew she was in the hospital, her house no longer livable. In the struggle between her parents for the fire stoker the living room had caught fire. Her father was missing, his real identity coming to light and he would not be seen or heard from again.

Even though hospital and sealed police records stated her wound was from a heated object her mother insisted if anyone asked it was said it was from an accidental fire in their home. That was the story she grew up telling and that was what she told Tom. She still didn't know why she didn't tell him, or hadn't told him. It didn't seem to matter anymore; it was just a scar wasn't it? It hadn't been important to talk about at all…until now.

And if she really thought about it, it was just a scar. She had thought that the story of how she had gotten it was what Reddington was so interested in; after all he had asked her if Tom knew about the fire and how she received the scar. He had said he chose her because of her father, her father had given her the scar, and her father was a criminal, so naturally she concluded that he was fascinated with it for those reasons. That is what she had thought up until the day in the park, when he actually touched her wrist and placed a scorching kiss on her skin. The scar its self wasn't what Reddington was interested in. It was what the scar once was, her birth mark.

That day in the park, the feeling she had felt reminded her of her mother, of stories she used to tell her at night before bed. Her mother had a similar birth mark as well. Her mother's was not on her wrist though, it was on her shoulder and it didn't look exactly the same. Growing up her mother told her that her birth mark was magically, that one day it would lead her to someone special, someone who was just for her and only for her. She told her that's how she had met her father. As a child the idea thrilled Elizabeth, to have a magical mark and that her mother had one too.

But as a teenager she no longer believed in magic or fairy tales. Her father was gone and her mother was weakened and sick. There was more than one occasion that they had gotten into a fight. Her mother would not stand for any bad mouthing of her father. Even though he had hurt her, abandoned them, her mother still defended him. Even though her mother was falling apart, she fell into deep depression, couldn't hold a job, couldn't function, she still claimed that her father loved them.

This of course angered her to no end. Her mother even still insisted on telling her stories that her parents were made to be together, that she would understand one day when she found her special someone, that her mother and father were connected in a way that no one could comprehend. They were soul mates, she had said.

Closer to her last days her mother had grown delusional and sat her down and asked her if she remembered the stories of her magic birth mark, and tried to convince her that it was indeed real. That she would feel it when she met the one she was for, that she would not be able to control it and that she would not be able to settle for someone less. Being a teenager and seeing only a shadow of the woman who was once her mother she told her mother that she was crazy and dismissed her. She died three days later. The doctors told her that her mother was sick but she knew the truth, her mother had died of a damaged heart.

Elizabeth wasn't religious, she wasn't even spiritual. Sure she believed in gut feelings, intuition, and instincts. But magic? No. She wasn't even considering that any of the stories her mother had told her were real. Or that she had a magical birth mark that would lead her to her soul mate. She was a married woman to a man she loved. And hell be damned if anyone told her Reddington was her soul mate. The idea made her queasy. What she did know though was that she felt something far from normal that day with Reddington, a feeling she had never felt before, and it was linked to her scar, or more than likely her birthmark. And she also knew that, without a doubt, Reddington knew what was going on. He had said they needed to talk, and the knowing smirk he had held was all too revealing.

Almost as if subconsciously she found herself upstairs getting dressed and put together for the day. She had been avoiding Reddington for days on purpose, she had even told herself the first couple days that if they called her in she would tell them she came down with something or come up with some excuse just as to not see him again. Nevertheless she knew deep down she had to see him. Once again he held all the answers and she held only puzzle pieces in her hand. As she grabbed her car keys she scowled, this was her life and it seemed she was starting to know less and less of who she really was.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: So here is the update finally, sorry to make you all wait! Updates will be coming along sooner then this one was posted, let me know what you think so far, and if you have any ideas for where this story is going feel free to message me.

* * *

As Elizabeth entered the room of the hotel Dembe walked out of another room and nodded to her.  
"He's expecting you." He walked past her without further explanation and left the suite.

Now that she was actually here she was no longer so sure of herself. She stared at the room Dembe had come from. She knew he was in there, and so were so many answers she wanted. Through all the training at the FBI academy and even the recent events she had never been struck with pure sickening fear. Yes, she feared for Tom's life when he was in the hospital but this was different. It was a feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach and crushed the breath from her lungs.

She had never met a man like Raymond Reddington. Who could be so aloof yet be so terrifying. She quietly walked towards the door way to the room where he waited for her and entered the room. There he sat on the couch reading the morning paper, seemingly oblivious that she was there but she knew he knew. Without saying a word she sat down on a chair opposite him and watched for any sign that he was willing to speak to her.

After a few moments he slowly lowered the paper and glanced at her lazily, smile blossomed on his face.

"Lizzie, to what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked with mock innocents, as if he didn't know why she was there to speak with him.

She glared at him; he wasn't going to make this easy on her she knew. Even though she came to him without him asking or harassing her, he would still play his games.

"I am here because of your cockamamie behavior. I came to you for answers, which wasn't an easy thing for me to do, and instead you…you..." She really didn't know what to label what he did exactly. He touched her and made her feel something she never had before but she wasn't about to say something like that to his face.

He stared at her, studying her, as if he was calculating his next form of attack. But once again he surprised her.

"I'm sorry Lizzie."

That she was not expecting.

He continued to stare at her and it began to make her uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat.

"Just for once be honest with me…What is going on…between us?" The words seemed to stick in her throat, but she forced herself to say them. Reddington's eyes softened and he put the newspaper he was holding down and pat the space next to him. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a look as if to say _surely you're joking? _And he let out a chuckle.

"Come now Lizzie, no need to be shy, this needs to be said and I would rather have you next to me for this conversation."

She was still skeptical but decided to humor him as she got up and sat next to him, making sure there was a decent amount of space between them. As she sat he attempted to reach out and take her hand, to which she immediately snapped her hand away from his reach and sent him a scolding glare. However he just laughed and held up both his hands, palms towards her as if in surrender and kept his hands to himself.

"I promise to play nice." Even though he said the words she could tell by the glint left in his eyes he had playing nice far from his mind.

"Tell me Lizzie, you seemed surprised by what transpired between us the last time we met, didn't your parents explain to you anything about...the mark on your wrist." He waited for an answer, and she could tell by his tone of voice he wasn't mocking her, he was actually curious.

"I was told fairy tales made up by my mother, as a child, probably in order for me to not feel different or ashamed of having a birth mark the was so visible. And then a scar." She waved her hand as she spoke as if waving the very idea of what her mother told her out of the conversation.

"And what fairy tales did your mother tell you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head, he seemed far too interested, and that made her wary.

"It doesn't matter; they were fairy tales about finding the person who was destined for you, the same load of rubbish that mothers tell their daughters about finding prince charming." She started to laugh as she explained but stopped when she noticed the look he was giving her. He looked as if he was remembering a happy memory that saddened him. She had never seen that kind of emotion on his face. In fact as of late she had been witness to a lot of emotional responses from the criminal mastermind that she wasn't used to.

"Well I must say, I am no prince charming, although I have been told I have a sort of allure about me."

He said it with a solemn face and she couldn't help but gap at him.

"Your mother wasn't telling you bed time stories, or trying to soften the cruel words from children about what happened to your wrist. She was attempting to prepare you Lizzie."

That fear she had felt started to come over her again. Normally if he had said something like that to her she would have laughed and expect to see a smirk on his face. But the dead seriousness of the conversation was beginning to alarm her. The whole thing was absurd, yet she could sense deep down she knew this was coming.

"Prepare me for what?" Although she asked the question she knew the answer before he said it. She knew what he was about to say, yet she couldn't control the urge to ask anyway.

"She was preparing you for meeting me sweetheart." Again the softness was in his eyes and her blood ran cold. The adorning look he was giving her, a look she knew that he held for her alone, was making her brain go into over drive.

"You're crazy Reddington. I don't believe in magic or magic marks, or soul mates in that sense. I'm not three years old; do you think I'm stupid?" She resorted to the only way she knew how to handle the situation: Be angry, very angry.

"And what are you even saying?" Her voice started to rise. "That I'm supposed to _be with _you? I'm a married woman, I'm in love with my husband…I don't even know you!"

Though she was tittering on the edge of going totally ballistic Reddington remained calm and collected, which made her even more pissed.

"You felt it Lizzie, when I touched your hand." He gestured to her hand and she flinched as if he touched her. "Even if I wanted to take back what happened, even if I wanted to disappear from your life, I can't now, our souls found each other; they woke up so to speak. It's only a matter of time now."

She stared at him in disbelief. The situation was unreal, something out of a novel. She stood up and back away from him.

"A matter of time until what?" she demanded and his face grew back to a stern expression.

"Until you won't be able to help yourself, you will seek me out, you will be drawn to me, and I to you. You may think you love your husband but he isn't who you think he is. And you will no longer be able to settle for someone who isn't me."

Everything about the way he said it, the look in his eyes, the tone of his voice, screamed possessiveness. And in that moment Elizabeth had never been more petrified of Reddington. She knew this would be the second time she was running away but she had to leave, before she lost control of the whole situation.

"I'm leaving Reddington, I don't know what you think you're doing but you better stay away from me. You're saying things that are nonsense and I can guarantee you that I don't find this funny at all, just stay away from and my family."

She said it with a force to get her message a crossed and stood and turned to leave. She couldn't deal with this now. She already doubted her marriage and then he had the nerve to pull some "we were meant for each other, its destiny" crap on her when he knew what was going on with her at home. Just like a criminal to take advantage of circumstances. She was just almost out of the room when he called after her.

"Didn't you ever wonder why you couldn't have children Lizzie? You have wanted a family so bad yet the doctors say it's not possible. You told Tom it's because you wanted to adopt and give a happy life to a child who lost their parents like you did, but that's not the case is it?"

His words stopped her in her tracks. Her heart felt like it was wretched out of her chest, she no longer could tell if she was breathing or not. How had he known that? About the doctors telling her she couldn't have children? Had he looked into it? A baby was the one thing she has always wanted the most. And to find out she wasn't capable of giving life…it was one of the hardest things she had ever had to hear.

"It's not because you can't have a baby Elizabeth." His voice was like a whisper. His use of her full name caught her attention.

"Its part of the bond, no one can give you what you want most. Not Tom, nor any other man."

She couldn't help it, as if her legs had a mind of their own she turned to look at him. She fully intended to give him another ear full but found she couldn't. The sincerity in his eyes washed away her anger. They seemed to plead with her, to beg her to understand and to agree. No one would ever believe her if she told them what her eyes took in. Raymond "Red" Reddington sitting in this room, his heart on his sleeve, and his soul bared to her by just the gaze in his eyes. For the first time since she had met him he looked so vulnerable. He looked scared and unsure. But most of all he looked like he was hurting somewhere deep inside.

Elizabeth prided herself in her profiling skills, and if she were to review in her mind what had ensued so far in this very room she would tell herself the man before her was being honest. She felt an inner pull to move forward, to go towards him. He was a criminal on the top ten most wanted, he had avoided the FBI for over twenties years, and he was normally laughing, smirking, and enjoying life. He wasn't supposed to be the man who was now before her.

But she controlled the emotions and impulses raging inside her. The conflicts in her heart were waging war with each other. She simply stood there, watching him.

"I can protect you Lizzie. I will never lie to you; I will do everything in my power to make you happy. To love you the way you deserve to be loved." The way he spoke made it seem as if the words he said were foreign to him. When he proclaimed he loved her she felt a knot form in her throat. He stood and slowly walked towards her, still every bit as sincere as he had been he reached out and stroked her face. At the moment his fingers touched her skin she sucked in a breath.

"But do you know what's most importantly sweetheart?" His eyes searched hers for something; though she had no idea what it was he was looking for.

"I can give you the one thing you have always wanted. I can give you what you want most in this world."

Her eyes widened, backing away from his touch. Her retreat brought sadness to his eyes; a pained expression crossed his features. She backed away from him some more and turned to leave. She looked at him one more time and tried to convey her sorrow, and her condolences in the look on her face. To make him see that she wasn't mad, but she couldn't do this.

"I'm sorry Red."

And before she could see his reaction to her words she hurried and left the room, opened the hotel room door, walked out and shut it behind her. As she headed to the elevator she told herself that she didn't understand what just happened but she needed to stay away from Reddington. That though she felt bad for him, and for whatever madness he was suffering from, she didn't feel anything other than pity for the man. That she was going to go home to her loving husband and that the love and devotion that was just shown for her just a few moments ago, the words he said to her, didn't have any effect on her. As she waited in the elevator she kept telling herself this over and over, trying not to let herself think the awful thought the was tempted to creep into her thoughts. That if what she was telling herself was really true…why did her heart feel like it was breaking?


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: So to answers some of your questions, yes Liz's father will be talked about later on, whether I have him still be alive or not is up for debate. And as for it being a baby fic, well I'm not sure if I will have her actually have a baby in this fic or if maybe in the prologue we see her later on with children, what are your guy's thoughts on that? Also I am attempting to get into the flow of updating "Heal My Wounds" but have hit a writer's block, besides Liz and Red going on a trip I really don't know where the story would be going, so message me with ideas!

P.S Prompts for future stories still welcome. Maybe writing a few chapters of a different story line will refresh my creative mojo.

* * *

It was eleven o'clock at night, and if it wasn't for the fact that it would wake Tom up Elizabeth would be banging her head against the stair case railing. How many nights was she going to find herself doing this? Sitting on the stairs in her night-gown as her husband slept? It had been the longest and most dreadful three days since she had went and saw Reddington. Whenever she let her mind wander it seemed that he filled her thoughts, and it was enough to drive her mad. She found herself thinking to herself about what he might be doing and if he was even in the country. She knew she had a severe problem when she began to have thoughts about if he was thinking of her too.

But the most concerning thing was her relationship with Tom. She had come home from work and he had made them a magnificent dinner which they shared together. Then after she helped him clean up the kitchen they made their way to the bedroom and it was clear what he had on his mind as he started to undress her. She should have been happy at the intimacy since they had grown so distant. Yet something felt off about him touching her and she couldn't find herself getting into the mood. She continued anyway up until they were right in the middle of love-making when her thoughts decided to betray her. She looked into Tom's eyes as he was above her, and another pair of eyes flashed through her mind, a pair of sad loving eyes. _His eyes_.

She tried to block out the image of Reddington when he had spoken to her that day, she shouldn't be thinking of another man while she was having sex with her husband. She should be enjoying this moment instead of it making her feel so wrong inside. She thought if she closed her eyes it might help but it only made it worse. Now without Toms face even in her vision all she saw was Reddington. Reddington smiling at her, Reddington calling her name, holding her hand, stroking her cheek, leaning towards her face as if he were going to…

With an abrupt move she shoved at Tom and told him to stop. Completely thrown off he had looked bewildered and asked her what was wrong. She had made some excuse of suddenly not feeling so well and that she might get sick. He tried to be understanding and concerned but she saw the irritation in his eyes. After all she had left him aroused, and it had been a while since the last time they had made love. She had apologized but he told her it was alright and asked if she needed anything.

She told him she would probably feel better in the morning and they had put on pajamas in silence and got back into bed. Although he kissed her head goodnight and smiled at her Elizabeth could no longer feel the love in his words and it saddened her. As soon as he was asleep she had snuck out of bed and sat on the stairs.

Reddingtons words kept ringing in her ears that she would no longer settle for anyone but him. It was accompanied by the words her mother told her so long ago that when her soul mate was found she could never settle for less. They both had told her the same thing, and though she still was denying what they told her she couldn't help but admit it wasn't just coincidence that this was happening between her and Tom. She contemplated seeing Reddington again and asking him to make this all go away, which she knew was a stupid idea, not to mention ridiculous seeing as he wouldn't be able to do anything in the first place. Yet a small part of her still blamed him.

If he never would have come into her life she would have never know the difference, she would have adopted a child and been completely happy with Tom. She tried to be angry towards him but in reality she also knew she was being selfish. If this was all true, not that she was going to admit it was just yet, then Reddington was probably going just as crazy as she was and had no control over it. She would never admit it to his face but he also intrigued her. Was she attracted to him? Possibly. Did she have feelings for him? No. But then there was a nagging feeling the kept emerging in her heart, and it revolved around the man. She would confess that his promises spoke to her.

Tom was lying about something, he was acting different. The FBI barely trusted her, and most of them looked down on her. Reddington had offered what she had worked so hard to achieve: Acceptance and love. She didn't even want to dwell on him basically offering to father her child. She couldn't even begin to fathom that notion. Even though in the back of her mind she wondered if he had been correct that he could give her that gift.

She wanted to speak to him, he had been on her mind for days and he was the only one who she could relate to at the moment. Not to mention that he was the only one she was a hundred percent sure cared about her. The heartrending look he wore when he had been so painfully honest with her floated back into her mind. She huffed and damned the kind heart her mother gave her as she stood up and made her way to the living room, grabbing the phone and dialing a phone number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Yes? Did you need something Lizzie?" She almost let out a sigh. The sound of his voice washed over her and she felt less agitated.

"No I didn't need anything in particular." When she had first met Reddington she would never have thought to call him up just to chat, the very idea was strange. But things were different now and the sense of peace it gave her to be able to talk to him had her not caring in the slightest.

"If you don't need anything then why pray tell are you calling? And so late as well?"

It wasn't really that late, and he had picked up at the second ring which meant he was up as well so she ignored that part of his question.

"I just wanted to talk to you is all."

There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"You just wanted to...talk to me." His tone suggested he was surprised at her answer and in all honesty Elizabeth was surprised as well.

"Yes." She let out a frustrated breath." I don't want to talk about what happened, or any of the things you said. Nothing related to that. We can talk about anything else. I just want to chat."

He seemed to consider what she said before he replied and he held a playful nature in his voice.

"Alright Lizzie…hmmm… it's after eleven at night and your calling from your home…what are you wearing?"

She let out a flabbergasted noise at his question which set him off laughing.

'That is not what I meant and you know it!" She pretended to be angry but hearing his laughter made her smile. The very fact that he didn't seem to be irritated or upset with her after her last visit brought her great relief. As happy as she was she decided to change the subject though.

"What are you doing?" She hoped she didn't sound like a shy teenager.

"Besides having a fascinating conversation with you? I am playing a game of chess."

She knew the man loved to play chess, she had seen a chess board lying around a time or two at one of the many hotels he stayed at. She had never actually seen him play, or knew who he played with, nor could she tell how the game was going by looking at the board.

"I have sometimes thought about learning to play." Which was true, she didn't know anyone who played tell she met him, though she thought the game seemed appealing.

"I could teach you." His voice held an open offer and she was hesitant in her reply. If she agreed she knew it would be an agreement. Reddington wasn't the type of person that if you said yes just to be nice you both knew it wouldn't happen, if you agreed then he expected it from you. She thought of their last meeting. She didn't want to address what they had discussed but she wanted to see him, wanted to converse with him. And although it unnerved her she also knew if she didn't she would go round the bend.

"I would like that. But maybe you shouldn't, I don't want to hurt your feelings when I become better than you." She teased him and he chuckled.

"My dear Lizzie, if anyone could beat me it would be you, of that I have no doubt." The way he said it made her question if he wasn't just talking about her beating him at chess and she swiftly tried to alter the subject again.

'Will you be at headquarters tomorrow? You haven't been in or come up with another person for us to catch, or for you to kill, whichever way you want to look at it."

"Why, are you missing me already Lizzie?" He was teasing her now but she knew friendly banter could easily take a wrong turn into uncharted waters.

"No, but I do have to confess you make the job more exciting." Although she knew that wasn't really the answer he probably wanted he laughed anyways.

"I will be there tomorrow." His voice took on that soft tone that made her heart skip a beat. "You should go to bed. It's getting let and you need your rest."

She ignored the concern he was conveying and thought to what it was going to be like actually seeing him tomorrow. She wanted to continue working with him. And she wanted to know if everything that was going on inside her heart was what he said it was or if she was losing her mind. Her gaze drifted to the stair case. She was married. And she loved Tom with everything she had, but what if Reddington was right and he wasn't the person she thought he was? They kept growing apart since she started this job, and she knew she couldn't just quit now. And she also knew she couldn't stop chasing answers to her questions, or to what was going on between her and the man on the phone. Turning a blind eye wasn't working and she needed to make some choices.

"Red?"

"Yes Lizzie?"

"I have a proposition for you." She knew this might be a foolish idea, but she was talking to an eccentric man after all and nothing in her life made sense.

"And what sort of proposition might that be?" His sounded extremely curious, all playfulness was gone.

"I will…consider… what you told me the other day. And be more open to discussing it. But only on two conditions." She held her breath and waited. When he gave no response she took that as a sign for her to continue.

"The first condition is that no more touching my wrist. And actually keep all touching to a minimum. The second being you have to be straightforward with me and tell me what you know about my husband before I agree to listen to you anymore about…the bond…thing…whatever it is you call it." Again she waited for a reaction and it seemed as if the silence lasted for moments before he actually answered.

"Alright, I will agree to your terms." Despite that he was partly getting his way he sounded dismal and that made her feel anxious about how that conversation was going to go.

""Okay…right…well good night then." She wanted to smack her head on something for real this time. She sounded like an idiot and really needed to get off the phone.

"Good night sweetheart, pleasant dreams." She heard a click as he disconnected.

As she made her way back upstairs to her sleeping husband she thought to herself that maybe she was going insane. But at least she would have Reddington right there going insane beside her, and that thought almost made her smile.

* * *

Authors note: So please review and let me know what you think. Just for a heads up I haven't made Red go totally soft, just because in private around Liz he lets his walls down doesn't mean in front of others they get to have that privilege. So he will still be sassy Red.

And if you haven't already, feel free to follow me on tumblr, I'm "lightthenightconsumingfire"


End file.
